April 1 marks the close of the winter precipitation season in the West, a good time to take stock of the snowpack in the mountains. The snow measurement indicates how much meltwater from that snowpack will be available for residential, agricultural, and commercial use during the dry summer months that follow. Even with the heavier snow in parts of

Arctic air begins to race across the relatively milder water of the Great Lakes every fall, generating lake effect snow. These snowfalls can be intense, but are often localized. Several inches of snow can fall a few miles away from a place that only gets flurries. As the planet has warmed from the increase in greenhouse gases, so have the lakes, me

Lake effect snow will still occur in a warming world, but by the late 21st century, we can expect a shortened lake effect snow season. Rather than peaking in fall and early winter, heavy lake effect snow would be pushed back later in the season, generally from January through March.

With the frequency of heavy precipitation increasing across most of the U.S., it follows that streamflow levels may be increasing as well. A Climate Central analysis of streamflow data at more than 2,100 active gauges found that the number of days with high stream flow (the top 25 percent of readings) has risen over the past 30 years in the largest

In the fall, we often expect to wake up to frost-covered windows, but a warming world is altering the average time when we first see those mornings occur. The frost-free season, defined as the stretch between the last 32°F reading in the spring and the first 32°F reading in the fall, has increased in length over the past 30 years, with both an

In the fall, we often expect to wake up to frost-covered windows, but a warming world is altering the average time when we first see those mornings occur. The frost-free season, defined as the stretch between the last 32°F reading in the spring and the first 32°F reading in the fall, has increased in length over the past 30 years, with both an

On the Great Lakes, the maximum ice cover this year is down substantially from 2014 and 2015, which were the 2nd and 4th highest percentages on record, respectively. Despite its large season-to-season variability, the maximum winter ice cover has been trending downward in recent decades. In addition to curtailing recreational activities such as

This week, parts of Oswego County in New York got a stunning 3 feet of lake effect snow. It was a rare event for a February and one that can be pinned to near “rock bottom” ice cover on the Great Lakes, as one scientist put it. Ice cover on the lakes stood at a mere 12 percent as of Feb. 11 (compared to 63 percent at the same time last year) thank

As the world continues to warm from the increase of greenhouse gases, the amount of extreme cold during winter will start to decrease. According to a 2013 report by Climate Central, nationwide nighttime winter temperatures since 1970 have risen about 30 percent faster than nighttime temperatures over the entire year. Every NOAA climate division has

Drought-plagued California is in for considerable rain and snow this week as the impacts of one of the strongest El Niños on record begin to be felt. Those much needed rains, however, come with the potential for flooding and debris flows in areas scorched by wildfires. Unlike earlier storms this season, which mostly affected Northern California